Wireless user terminals, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers, are designed to favor a Wireless Fidelity (WI-FI) connection as opposed to a cellular network connection. Whenever a user terminal is able to connect to a WI-FI cell in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), it will automatically switch its network connection for Internet services to the WLAN from the cellular network such as a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network. This approach helps offload data traffic from the cellular network and is used by most cellular phones on the market.
This network selection bias favoring WLAN does not always provide the user with the best possible service. It does not take into consideration the network conditions for the two types of access networks (WLAN and cellular). Even when the WI-FI cell is very congested and the cellular network is lightly loaded, the user terminal will still select the WI-FI cell. Similarly, when a user terminal is further away from a WI-FI cell with marginal signal quality and the quality of service with WI-FI is poor, the user terminal will still connect through the WI-FI cell even though the cellular network can provide better service (e.g., higher data throughput).